This post will cover Cindy, Sylvia, and I driving from Salt Lake City to Omaha, Nebraska, then sightseeing in Omaha before driving on to our house in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Salt Lake City to Omaha, Nebraska
My last blog post ended with me dropping my mom off at Salt Lake City International Airport. I remained at the airport for two more hours waiting for Cindy and Sylvia to arrive. While waiting, I checked out the new airport. At least it was new to me. The airport is now multiple levels and is still very easy to navigate. I feel it is well laid out and still easy to use. Two thumbs up to the “new” airport.
Cindy and Sylvia made it in fine and we were off. After driving for about four and a half hours to Rawlings, Wyoming, we stopped for dinner. Most of our choices were fast food, or chain restaurants that did not sound too good. We ended up finding the place where all of the locals go, named “Buck’s Sports Grill.”
We had to wait just over half an hour to get seated. The servicers were friendly, and the overall service was very good. They had the largest menu I have ever seen. And I don’t mean the number of items, I mean the actual size of the menu.
The food itself was average at best. The fries were not as hot as they could have been. I ordered a French dip and Cindy and I were sure the meat inside my sandwich was Steak-umms. Do you remember Steak-umms?
Normally average food does not get a link, however, I am making an exception for Buck’s because it really is the only unique place in town.
After our so-so meal, we finished off the drive in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we spent the night. We drove to Omaha, Nebraska the next day and arrived at our hotel before dinner time. Not wanting anymore Steak-umms, we decided to eat at a highly rated pizza place named, “Lyle’s Pizzeria.” This turned out to be a very link worthy place. Here is what the outside looked like.
And the inside.
The service was first rate, the prices were reasonable, and the food was outstanding. We started with the Emerald Caesar Salad and the server assured us it would feed all three of us. He was correct. It was large and tasty.
Since we were at a pizza place, we had to order a pizza. We ordered a 16 inch “Tre Carne” that came with tomato sauce, prosciutto, fennel sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, and oregano. It was outstanding and we were all stuffed.
With aching bellies, we headed back to our hotel for some shut eye. The next morning, we received a severe thunderstorm alert on our phones. Luckily, Sylvia was still asleep, because she does not like thunderstorms. Unfortunately, we took a direct hit from the storm, and it had some really loud thunder, a lot of lightening, and some pretty heavy rain. This all happened while we were sitting by a window eating our breakfast. As intense as the storm was, it moved through quickly and was over by the time we were ready to check out. We checked out and headed off to do some sightseeing on our way to St. Joseph. Our first stop was at Memorial Park. The park was created as a memorial for all of the men and women from Douglas County who have served in the armed forces. It was later expanded to include monuments that honor all Nebraska men and women of the armed forces who were killed or missing during service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. It is a beautiful park in a serene setting. Here are a few pictures from our visit.
There was a huge statue (about 26 feet tall) on display named, “Embracing Peace.” There are four of these statues. Two, including this one, are traveling statues, and move every six months or so. We were lucky to catch this one while it was in Omaha. The other travelling statue is currently in Italy. Then there’s two permanent ones. One in Sarasota, Florida, and one at U.S.S Midway in San Diego.
As you can see, Memorial Park is well worth the stop. There is a link at the end of this post.
We continued on down the road to our next stop, the Gene Leahy Mall at the Riverfront. The Gene Leahy Mall is actually a downtown park featuring a performance pavilion, a state-of-the-art playground, interactive water features, a sculpture garden, and a sizeable dog park. This is an absolute must visit when in Omaha, so check out the link at the end of this post.
We started by walking around the sculpture garden, next to the pavilion. They had hammocks and comfy wooden chairs in case you wanted to take a nap, and tornado sirens to wake you up in case a tornado was nearby.
Here is some of the art we saw.
Here is a view of the performance pavilion and some of the playground equipment.
There were many neat features, including a giant adult size swing, and wood bleachers that were designed as lounge chairs.
There was a pond with a giant head at the end, and steps that went over the water.
Two blocks away from the Gene Leahy Mall at the Riverfront, is the Old Market area of downtown. This is a concentration of shops and eateries, so of course we had to check it out.
The ladies enjoyed some coffee from the Godega Market. There was a jewelry store with a cat named “Handsome Boy” that would run out to greet each customer as they came in the door. After allowing you to pet him a few times, he was off until the next customer entered.
We visited the greatest store in the universe, “Ray Gun, Pew, Pew, Pew.” And the pew, pew, pew was the sound of the ray gun, not a bad smell. And it truly was an amazing store. I had to buy a t-shirt there, and we bought a few stocking stuffers for the kids as well. They have funny and creative clothing, mugs, knick-knacks, stickers, etc. You have to check this place out. Use the link at the end of this post.
After lunch at M’s Pub, where the food was pretty good, but not link worthy, we walked around a bit more before heading back to the truck. As we got to the truck, I noticed I had parked across the street from the Museum of Shadows. They claimed to have haunted artifacts and oddities and had been featured on the Travel Channel. I had to see this and since Cindy and Sylvia said “Hell No” to joining me, I ventured off by myself. Would you believe they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays? And since it was Monday, I was not going to see any cool haunted artifacts or oddities. Just my luck.
It was a quick two-hour drive to our house in St. Joseph and we made it safe and sound.
The next post will cover our stays in St. Joseph, and a quick trip down to Spring, Texas to see Corrianne. Stay safe and avoid the haunted oddities until next time.
LINKS